Her Mother's Game
by Kurissyma san Tybalt
Summary: Ambassador Prentiss throws a charity ball and demands her daughter's attendance with an 'appropriate' guest - by which she means, 'a man'. But Emily's tired of playing her mother's games and she's got the perfect date in mind. Someone beautiful, someone clever, someone who can hold her own against a rabble of politicians... EmilyxJJ
1. Chapter 1

**AN./ I know, I know. I'm always starting new things instead of focusing on my old ones! But I can't help where inspiration strikes! At this present moment in time I intend to finish all the Emily/JJ fics I've started. We'll see if that happens, but the intention is there. Here is a bit of lighter fluff to pass the time until then :) –Bec xx**

**Chapter 1**

Emily Prentiss was in an unusual rush to leave the BAU and there could be only one reason why. A hushed phone call she'd been embarrassed to answer earlier in the day, the repetitive time-checking since 6pm or so—it didn't take a profiler to figure it out. Still, it was with a peculiar sense of smugness-and-something-else that JJ decided to investigate.

Emily was checking her watch once again when the blonde agent swept down from her office. Her lips were pressed into a straight line and she seemed to be debating herself internally as a shadow crossed her desk. She looked up with a start to find JJ's eyes staring into hers, piercing blue and searching.

"Oh. …Hey." Emily rearranged a few items on her desk without looking at them as she tried to think of something to say. "I was just about to head off."

"Oh, I know," JJ replied. Her lip curled up in amusement. "You've got a date."

"I've got a— Sorry, what? No, I don't." Now Emily's eyes did drop to the desk. She lifted a pencil, then put it quickly back down. It was already perfectly aligned with the others.

"You tidy when you're nervous," JJ stated. The look on Emily's face was deliberately blank but to JJ it was as good as an admission of guilt. "Don't deny it, Emily. Why the secrecy?"

"I don't even know if it's a good idea," Emily sighed, getting to her feet, as if to equalize the power imbalance in their current interactions. It didn't work and she patted her hands against her thighs awkwardly before reaching for her bag. "It's just someone I met in a coffee shop. I probably shouldn't have given them my number."

She gestured resignedly for JJ to walk with her and they headed for the door.

"Them?" JJ repeated, her interest sparking. "Did you give your number to several people in this coffee shop or are you being deliberately ambiguous about the sex of your mystery date?"

Emily groaned softly, and the look in her eyes as she held the door open was 100% "_I hate profilers"_—it was a sentiment so frequently reiterated amongst members of the team that it had been abbreviated to a glance.

"I don't even know her," Emily admitted. "I don't know why I agreed."

"You're never this shy!" JJ exclaimed, surprised and a little jealous. "She must really be something."

Emily shrugged and combed her hair over one shoulder uncertainly.

"She's beautiful but I shouldn't have accepted," she finally said. "The only reason I said yes was to piss off my mother." Emily let out a sigh as JJ continued to stare at her, knowing she'd need to explain now. "I know, I know—what am I, sixteen? But my mother invited me to this charity ball she's throwing—I say _invited_ but it'd be more accurate to say she demanded my presence—and part of her demand was that I bring an _appropriate _guest. Which, of course, means that she expects me to bring a man."

"But, given the choice, you wouldn't?" JJ confirmed.

It took Emily a moment to meet her eyes. "No," she answered. "But I don't really want to bring coffee-shop-woman either. She just surprised me and I was brooding, mad at my mother, and I thought that if I went out with her and the date went well, I could invite her to my mother's ball." She closed her eyes briefly as the two of them waited for the elevator. "It was stupid idea. I can't force this by-all-evidence very nice woman to endure an evening with my mother without forewarning her. Anyway, it's too big a favour and I don't know her at all. I just wish I didn't have to cow down to my mother and either bring a man or go alone."

"So take me."

"What?"

"You heard me." JJ flashed a cheeky smile as she stepped aside to hold the elevator door for Emily. As the doors closed behind them, providing a rare moment of privacy, she spread her hands in a gesture of openness. "I know your mother, she doesn't frighten me, and honestly, it'd make me happy to be the woman on your arm for a night. I'll pretty up, do my little liaison thing where I make everyone love me despite their hang-ups, and there'll be nothing your mother can do about it."

"Jayj, you don't want to go," Emily assured her quickly. "It'll be boring. Just a lot of old stiffs and politicians—"

"Will there be dancing?"

"Well, yes—"

"And I imagine there'll be wine. Good wine."

"Yes, but—"

"And food?"

"A big dinner, but, Jayj—"

JJ stopped Emily's speech with a finger on her lips and then stepped back just as the elevator doors opened. "Sounds good to me," she stated simply. "Get back to me with the details. And enjoy your date tonight!"

The last line was called over her shoulder as JJ walked off, and Emily could only stand and stare, watching her bounce away, her hips swinging like she'd got what she'd been after all along...

Well, she was right about one thing. Jennifer Jareau was very, very good at making other people love her in spite of themselves. Emily considered herself a case in point.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

"How was last night?" JJ asked, with more than a casual interest, as she passed Emily's desk. For once the brunette profiler had beat even her to the office and, given JJ's workaholic tendencies, it didn't say much for the success of her evening. "You don't look like you consumed _nearly_ enough alcohol for a first date."

"I didn't," Emily replied, glancing up with an honest smile. "_She_ did, though. I barely got through one glass before she'd finished the entire bottle of wine we ordered with dinner and then she insisted on ordering another… No, I put her into a taxi around 9 o'clock and spent the next hour wondering if I shouldn't have gone with her just in case."

"Ouch," JJ laughed. "Guess it's a good thing you decided to give her a trial-date before inviting her to your mother's ball."

A pained look crossed Emily's face. "Definitely… Listen, about that—I wanted to say that I appreciate your offer to come with me, but if I'm honest, I'm being pretty childish. It's one night. I can take a man. Or I can go by myself. I don't want to embarrass my mother."

"You won't embarrass her," JJ cut in, more harshly than she expected. "Or, okay, maybe you will, but she's a politician, she'll be able to hide it. And if _I'm _honest, she deserves to be embarrassed by her own behaviour. I think you should follow your instinct and stand up to her. I'll stand beside you. She can dig into me if she likes but—in front of all those guests?—I don't think she'll even try."

"It's this Saturday night," Emily revealed. She seemed to be watching JJ closely, taking her in with all her fiery determination.

"Perfect, I have no plans," JJ instantly replied, although she did and would have to reschedule them. "What time will you pick me up?"

Now a small smile broke across Emily's face. She didn't dislike seeing JJ assert herself this way on her behalf. "The dinner starts at 7.30, so if I come by yours around quarter to seven?"

"I'll be ready," JJ replied, and then she turned on her heel and marched up to her office, leaving Emily—once again—to shake her head and wonder what exactly had just happened.

* * *

JJ's dress was an aquamarine satin that shimmered like the surface of the ocean. Gathered under her bust, it cascaded down her slim body like a waterfall and made her blue eyes somehow even more stunning. When the door opened on the blonde beauty, Emily found her heart being far faster than it had several nights ago when she beheld the coffee-shop-woman, the object of her last truncated attempt at dating.

"Suitable for your mother?" JJ asked with a cheeky wink that suggested the ambassador's approval was, in fact, the last thing on her mind.

"The Queen of England couldn't fault you," Emily replied. She yearned to reach out and skim her fingertips across the fabric but resisted. "You look gorgeous."

"And so do you," JJ replied, surprising Emily.

A self-conscious hand patted at brown hair curled into a bun and swatted at the loose strands that framed her cheeks. "It'll rain," she declared, "Or someone will spill a drink on me, and then we'll see what happens to all this mess of hair."

Both women had curled their hair for the evening and wondered if they shouldn't have communicated at some prior point to coordinate their appearances.

"Shall we go?" Emily asked, glancing at her watch.

Of course she still wore a watch, JJ thought, nodding as she gestured for Emily to precede her out the door. Emily was a practical woman at heart and although her long red gown suited her well, JJ knew the older woman felt restrained by her beautiful clothes, right down to the restrictive underwear and the fashionable clutch that barely fit her mobile phone.

To be fair to her, Emily had exchanged her usual, functional timepiece for a much finer one, which JJ couldn't help but admire. It was thin, gold, and modestly jewelled and it matched the necklace and the earrings she wore, as well as complimenting the dark red of her gown. It would be a whole new world of opulence they would enter tonight, JJ realised. One where charity balls and four-course banquets were regular occurrences and jewellery was bought in matching sets. She attempted to stem the rising tide of uncertainty within her but, several times as they drove, she found her eyes flickering back toward that glittering watch looping the pale hand that gripped the steering wheel.

"Did you tell your mother you were bringing a guest?" JJ asked, to pass some time.

Emily passed her a quick, guilty glance. "I said I might," she admitted. "If I said for sure that I was, mother would have wanted to know _who_, which would have spoiled it. And I have no doubt she would've arranged some 'emergency' at work to have you called away. If we just turn up she'll have to accept us as we are. It would be far more embarrassing for her not to."

"And am I your girlfriend?" JJ asked as casually as she could. Her eyes were keen on the side of Emily's face, although they felt heavy with the weight of her painted lashes. "_Tonight_, I mean. If someone asks." When Emily didn't reply, she added, "It would probably be the simplest thing to explain. And it'd be unambiguous."

A grateful smile crossed Emily's lips and she nodded without replying. "…This is it."

"Are you kidding? This is your _house?"_ JJ's voice was rightly incredulous.

"It's my mother's house," Emily corrected her, anxious to be driving once again around the massive fountain that stood outside the front of Ambassador Prentiss' mansion. "Try to look as politely unimpressed as possible."

"That's gonna be hard, Em—I'm pretty impressed," JJ answered, but she did her best.

"It'd be good if, when I stop the car, you let me open your door for you…"

Emily sounded embarrassed to be asking and JJ reached across the console to lay a reassuring hand on her knee. She wasn't accustomed to allowing men (or women, for that matter) to scrape at her, opening car doors and pulling out chairs, but she understood the role Emily needed her to play and, for Emily, she was happy to do it.

"You're the man in the relationship, right?" she joked and she couldn't decipher the look Emily gave her then, except that it might have been hurt and that disturbed her.

JJ squeezed Emily's knee again before drawing back. When the car came to a halt outside the front entrance, she waited patiently for Emily to hand her keys to the valet and then open the door on her side. With a mild flourish, the taller woman bent and extended a hand to her date, guiding her to her feet with a charming smile. Then the soft hand moved to the small of JJ's back and, with a fleeting smile toward a man—whom Emily apparently knew—standing by the door, their evening of pretence began.

There was no shortage of demand for Emily once they'd entered the hall and JJ marvelled at just how many people Emily _did_ know. She greeted everyone who approached her by his or her name and with the utmost politeness, introducing them to JJ with their profession and sometimes even a hobby. JJ, she invariably introduced as her girlfriend, but as she grew more confident, so did her introductions.

"Monsieur Aubertin, allow me to introduce to you my sweet dove, my Jennifer," she would say. To another man, an ambassador from Spain, she was _my glittering jewel._ One woman heard her referred to as _the captor of my heart, _and, of course, such obvious displays of rapture quickly reached the ears of Emily's mother.

Emily and JJ had only been in the room fifteen minutes when, through the crowd of sparkling guests, floated Elizabeth Prentiss, clothed in illustrious gold and looking painfully benevolent.

"Emily, my darling," she gushed. "And Jennifer, so good to see you again!"

Now that she was here, the ambassador was going to make sure that everyone knew JJ had been formally invited and expected and that she had previously been met with and vetted and, ultimately, approved for her daughter. An insubordinate child was far more embarrassing than one who was politely unconventional.

"Hello, mother," Emily replied, smiling brightly. "Doesn't Jennifer look stunning?"

"Yes, quite. Blue is absolutely her colour," Elizabeth agreed. "But you really ought to have coordinated your colours better. Blue and red? Emily, you've always looked better in more _demure_ colours."

JJ watched in fascination as Emily's lip curled. Even this simple exchange was political.

"I don't know, ambassador," she interjected, curious to play her part. "I think red is my favourite colour on your daughter. She has such lovely pale skin and, with her dark hair, it's a gorgeous contrast."

"She thinks I look like a prostitute," Emily explained in a whisper, once her mother had vanished. "Did you see her looking at my lipstick?"

"No?"

"Well, she did," Emily assured her. "The last time I wore this shade she told me I looked like a hooker. And she did _not_ like my dress either."

JJ observed her date again with a keener eye. There was nothing in the least bit inappropriate about Emily's appearance. Her dress was ankle-length and certainly modest enough for a ball—while still being sleek and sexy—and her lipstick matched it exactly, emphasising the perfect shape of her lips. Hmm… Perhaps that was it. Most of the other guests were older, fading. Emily was undoubtedly the most gorgeous person in the room; it probably made her mother uncomfortable, especially with JJ present.

The ringing of a light, high-pitched bell signalled that dinner was ready to be served in the next room and gradually the chattering guests floated across. They moved at a dawdle and Emily and JJ found themselves caught in a slow moving throng. A sudden movement to their left caught their attention easily.

"Emily!" a slightly raised voice cut through the chatter and Emily lifted a hand in greeting as a man slightly younger than her slipped towards them, awkwardly throwing excuse me's over his shoulder as he went. "It's great to see you! I didn't think you'd come!"

A stark counterpoint to Elizabeth Prentiss, this rather handsome man appeared genuinely happy to see Emily, and he laughed brightly as he reached her.

"Oh, I'm sorry!" he exclaimed as he knocked JJ's elbow. "You must be the lovely _Jennifer_ everyone is talking about! Come on, you two will sit with me… Emily, we have so much to catch up on!"

Unlike the others, there was no formal introduction, and Emily happily followed the young man. As the people around them took their seats, the crowd began to thin and Emily led JJ to the table by the hand before stopping to pull out her chair for her. It seemed that all eyes were on JJ as she sat.

"I'm Andrew," the man now said. He'd circled the table quickly and taken the seat directly opposite JJ. "Emily and I were at school together in Italy. My father and her mother worked together for many years. She was the only one who made all of those embassy functions bearable for a wild kid like me!"

It seemed like not much had changed. Almost everything Andrew said came out as an exclamation—he seemed far too excited for the present crowd. And now he winked at JJ.

"So, tell me, Emily," he insisted. "Tell me everything there is to know about this stunning woman who, I am told, has completed the impossible task of capturing your heart. All anyone seems to know is her name! It makes the gossip very dull—they're all as enamoured with her as you are! '_Have you met that pretty young lady_,' my father tells me. '_No, father, I have not,'_ I reply. _'Aha,' _says he, _'She is dating Elizabeth Prentiss's daughter! But I am far too charmed even to be scandalised!'_"

As he spoke, entrees appeared like magic down the line of the table. Drinks were being poured all around, and Emily made sure to procure one for her girlfriend at the earliest opportunity.

"What do you want to know?" she asked smilingly and Andrew spread his hands wide.

"Besides _does she have a sister?_" he said, "Where did you two meet? How long have you been dating? It must be serious for the ambassador to have invited her—" A broad grin tugged at his lips as it hit him. "Wait… You didn't tell her she was coming, did you!"

"Mother may have explicitly warned me _not_ to bring a woman," Emily admitted, quietly enough that the guests around them did not hear, but her eyes were shining. "And she's taking it as expected. I can't wait to hear what she says when she finally gets me alone."

"Don't let her," Andrew advised, raising his glass merrily. "Eat, drink, dance—have a wonderful evening, on her. I'll make sure to speak to the ambassador later and tell her just how spectacular I find your girlfriend."

"She'll love that," Emily laughed, and then she turned her smile on JJ, who had been quiet for some time. "Sorry for talking like you're not here," she apologised, laying a soft kiss against JJ's cheek.

JJ lifted her hand to touch Emily's jaw softly, smiling despite herself. "It's okay," she promised. "I'm still taking it all in."

"Ask Andrew questions," Emily suggested. "He'll tell you all sorts of terrible things he shouldn't about me."

"Will you?" JJ teased. "That's not very loyal."

Andrew laughed loudly. "Well, that's the first thing you should know about me," he replied. "I am loyal only to a good time! In a crowd like this, that may _seem_ like I'm being loyal to Emily, but in fact if there were a single more interesting person here, I'd talk to them instead, _and_ I'd tell them of all her hilarious childhood exploits!"

JJ glanced at Emily to see what she thought of this and found her smiling warmly. Despite his words, there was a time-toughened fondness in Andrew's tone too.

"Tell me then," she declared. "I'm interesting and I want to know _all_ her secrets."

"That you are, Jennifer…" Now Andrew turned his bright eyes on Emily. "Should I tell her about the time your mother walked in on you and Lorraine?"

"Usually," Emily intoned mock-formally, "One avoids the subject of old flames when one's current partner is present."

"But I want to hear," JJ insisted, setting down her knife and fork to clasp Emily's hand in a way she knew would get her exactly what she wanted.

Their eyes met and JJ had the sudden thought that Emily was playing her part very well. There was such a (seeming, of course) depth of affection in her gaze… JJ allowed herself a shy smile in response.

"Well, you asked for it," Andrew butted in cheerfully as Emily nodded. "Lorraine was Emily's first _real_ girlfriend. She was seventeen at the time and not at all the prude she is now—no! She was extremely popular with the boys _as well as_ the girls—"

"But I was never interested in the boys," Emily interrupted. "They only liked me because I didn't mind them telling their friends they'd slept with me when they hadn't. I fostered my reputation for insalubrious behaviour with great love and care."

"She hasn't changed," Andrew pointed out. "She was desperate for her mother's attention then too—always acting out."

"It's not her attention I want," Emily sighed. "I'm completely happy for her to ignore me. But if she _chooses_ to invite me to an event like this, then I want her to know that she has to accept me as I am. That I'm an adult who isn't going to be bullied out of being seen in public with her partner."

"Oh shush and let me tell the story, Emily!" Andrew placed his knife and fork correctly on his plate and then leaned back as it was taken away. "So, Jennifer, the ambassador had gone out for the evening. Some grand function and a very, very important one. She wasn't expected back until late. Of course, Emily decided that this would be a great time to invite her first steady girlfriend back to her place, sneak into mummy's wine room, and get just a little bit plastered."

"Getting plastered wasn't the intention," Emily whispered, leaning toward JJ with a bit of a wild grin. "I only wanted her a bit rosy-cheeked so I could seduce her properly and maybe get lucky, but when you've got all this amazing wine and mother out of the house… We went a little overboard!"

"On the kitchen table, weren't you?" Andrew remarked happily, "When the ambassador came in early? If I remember correctly, you were _eating her out._"

He said the words with childish delight and it was contagious. JJ had only had half a glass of champagne but she was beginning to feel somewhat rosy-cheeked herself. Andrew's story was such a wonderful change from all that politicking she'd had to bear through before they sat down to eat.

"You can laugh," Emily sighed, although she was smiling too. "I thought I'd killed her. My mother, I mean. I honestly did. I thought she was having a heart attack. She couldn't speak. Just stood there _choking_."

"The one and only time Ambassador Prentiss has ever been rendered speechless," Andrew declared reverently, as if it were the title to a chapter in a history book.

"But what happened?" asked JJ. "And what about the poor girlfriend?"

"Oh, she did what anyone would do when faced with the ambassador's wrath," Emily replied. "She ran. Left her little lace panties on the kitchen floor for me to pick up while my mother stared in abject horror." She winked rakishly. "Things were never quite the same between Lorraine and I after that…"

"A week later, there's another dinner, but this time Emily and I are invited," Andrew continued. "And Emily turns up with the most polite and polished boy I'd ever seen. He delighted absolutely everybody, although none of us ever saw him again after that night. I think she may even have paid him to come... I learned a lot about politics at that dinner and even more about Emily." He surveyed his friend critically. "She says she won't play her mother's games but she does and she wins too. One day she's the ambassador's worst nightmare of a child and then the next she's the perfect daughter. She is a force to be reckoned with, Jennifer."

JJ squeezed Emily's hand lightly. "I already know that," she replied. "I work with her."

"I'm really not sure if I'm being insulted or complimented right now," Emily remarked coyly, but it was clear that both of her peers were in awe of her.

"You work at the BAU too, Jennifer?" Andrew asked, ignoring his friend. "Is that ever a problem, considering you're dating?"

"It hasn't been a problem yet," JJ replied, shooting Emily an amused glance.

"Don't tell me she paid you to be here too," Andrew exclaimed and both Emily and JJ laughed, although it wasn't impossibly far from the truth.

"No, no, I definitely wanted to be here!" JJ assured him—again, not lying, but not telling the truth either. Maybe she was more suited to this world of politics than she thought…

Then the man sitting to Emily's left begged her attention and the remainder of the meal was far less eventful.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

"Is it some kind of ploy?" JJ whispered as Emily led her out of the dining room. In the hall the band was striking up once again. "They feed you until you feel like bursting and then disorient you by making you dance. Look at them all twirling like that… I'd be sick." She stopped babbling, feeling somewhat self-conscious as a thought hit her. "Can _you_ dance like that?"

Andrew had disappeared into the crowd on the tail of a young woman he didn't know (but wished to), and now it was just JJ and Emily standing at the edge of the room, briefly alone—at least, as alone as a couple _could_ be amongst so many people.

"We don't have to dance if you're not comfortable with it," Emily assured her. "But if you are, I can teach you. I can lead." Seeing that JJ was undecided, she leaned in closer until her lips brushed the younger woman's ear. "If we dance, we won't have to talk to anyone else for a while…"

It was certainly tempting.

"Aren't you going to be embarrassed when I keep stepping on your toes in front of all these fashionable people?" JJ teased, but she'd already been won over. She rested a hand on Emily's waist and ran her thumb along the smooth fabric of her gown experimentally.

"The whole point of this evening is to prove to my mother and everyone that I will _not_ be embarrassed by whomever I choose to date," Emily answered. "And I could certainly never be embarrassed by _you_, JJ."

It felt good, for a moment, to hear someone call her by her nickname. Although the first few times her full name had slipped from Emily's lips, JJ had liked it, the name _Jennifer_ now possessed an unshakeable ring of falseness. She wasn't a three-syllable kind of girl, she thought. She was an abbreviation, and happily so—something short and sweet and fun. She could be serious when she needed to be, but it wasn't her natural state.

"Well then," JJ finally replied, "I would love to dance with you," and she allowed her date to lead her out onto the floor.

Emily led simply and gracefully but without much verbal instruction. She relied upon JJ following her movements and sensing the rhythm of the music, which she did well. When she had the moves understood closely enough to let her concentration slip, Emily surprised her with a delicate outwards spin before curling her back into her chest. JJ chuckled at the cheeky smile the older woman gave her. They moved more easily after that.

"Do you mind if I cut in?" came a familiar voice from behind them, and Emily turned to find an old friend of her mother's—very wealthy and very influential. The ambassador would never forgive her if she refused the dance.

Thankfully, Andrew swept back in at that moment and requested JJ's hand, relaxing Emily's qualms about abandoning her play-girlfriend for a few minutes.

Her mother's friend danced well and spoke politely, but Emily was glad when she had JJ back in her arms. They had perfected a way of moving together and there was something intimate about it, although they followed the same patterns as the other dancers. Emily met JJ's eyes and found her staring back with a look something like wonder.

"You are so beautiful…" The words surprised Emily even as she spoke them. "I mean— Well, you are. …Sorry."

JJ laughed softly. "Why are you apologising?" she asked, tossing her hair over her shoulder with a gentle shake of her head. "Thank you for the compliment."

The curls JJ had formed earlier with an iron had loosened as the night wore on, and now Emily resisted the urge to run her hands through the fine blonde hair and test the spring of the soft waves. Instead, she settled for gently brushing JJ's collarbone with her thumb, her right hand resting on the blonde's shoulder as they danced, more slowly now. She was numbly aware of more than one pair of eyes settling on she and her date.

_Let them look_, Emily thought. _I have the most gorgeous woman in the world right here in my arms. Of course they're jealous._

"Do you think your mother would have a coronary if I kissed you?" JJ murmured. Then she followed the question up with a joke, just in case it was poorly received. "I promise not to eat you out on her dining room table."

Their dance had mellowed to the point that they were barely moving and now Emily stilled them completely and moved her hand from JJ's shoulder up her neck to rest at her jaw.

"That's a very considerate question," she replied, her tone affectionately teasing. "Do you usually ask parental permission before you kiss someone? If so, would verbal consent be adequate or do you require it in writing?"

"I'm not asking the ambassador's permission," JJ rebutted. "I'm asking whether my desire to kiss her daughter in public would threaten her life or only her delicate sensitivities."

"Jayj, if she went into cardiac arrest right this second I would probably still kiss you," Emily admitted and it was true her lips were very close now.

"In front of all these people?" JJ breathed.

Emily smiled calmly and tilted JJ's chin toward her. "In front of all these people," she confirmed and then she kissed her.

The taste of Emily's mouth was all expensive wine and richness and JJ wanted to drink it in. She slid her hands from Emily's waist up to her ribs and pulled her as close as she could, enjoying the sensuous smoothness of the fabric beneath her hands and the taut body beneath it. A sigh left JJ's lips as the hand on her chin gently tugged her jaw down and opened her mouth to Emily's tongue.

"Beautiful…" Emily repeated, whispering the word before JJ had even registered her withdrawal, and the eyes that met hers were peaceful and loving.

A satisfied languidness overtook the couple's movements as they resumed their dance, and they didn't stop until finally duty called for Emily to farewell the other guests.

"It is wonderful to be seeing you again, Emily," one old man greeted her. His accent was eastern European, although JJ couldn't quite place it. He pronounced Emily's name as _Emilih_ and clapped a hand on her back as though he knew, or had once known, her well. The gesture seemed genuine. "And I am glad to meet you too, young lady," he directed to JJ. "Although I am surprised. This one, she never had her shortage of boyfriends… But none of them, I think, she cared for as much as you. Good evening to you both."

Emily's eyes followed the man fondly as he walked away and JJ realised that although this world of politicians was not one she often chose to dwell in, it was the life she had been born into. All of the faces she knew from her childhood belonged to such people. Some of them were kind and loving but others, whom JJ had also met and tried her best to ignore, were conniving and grasping. No one had been outright rude to her this evening, but she had seen the stares and heard the silences that followed her around. Conversations ended as she approached. But that much had been expected.

Only one man acted deliberately rudely, dismissing Emily with a callous wave as she thanked him for coming. His wife looked embarrassed but kept her head down and the pair left quickly, although not without a quiet and probably snide word to Elizabeth Prentiss, who stood by the door with her face impassive.

"We have to talk to your mother before we go, don't we?" JJ asked. She tried to fight the dread settling in her stomach. She'd been happy to do this for Emily—wanted Emily, as an adult, to feel like she had the freedom to see whomever she pleased, regardless of their sex. But that didn't lessen the ambassador's intimidating nature and JJ knew that Emily was dreading the conversation too.

Still, Emily steeled herself and, much like a politician, showed no fear. "We won't stay long," she replied. "But we can't run away without saying goodbye, no."

Andrew waved from across the room but didn't speak to them again. He left with the same woman he had gone to dance with earlier and gave Emily a wink before turning away. Finally, only the ambassador and a few staff remained, along with Emily and JJ, and the staff quickly dissipated once the door had closed. Even they knew what was coming.

"You still throw a grand party, mother," Emily commented. Her voice was casual, unafraid, and JJ marvelled at it. "Everyone enjoyed themselves immensely."

"Did they?" the ambassador's voice was terse. "I was preoccupied." It was clear from her tone that her daughter's choice of partner had been the subject of her preoccupation. "And when did you ever come to one of my parties except to stir trouble? Do you think this is a joke?"

"It's not a joke, mother. This is my life," Emily answered. "I'm going to date women occasionally, I _hope _I'll be married someday, and I may even want children. I'm saving you the scandal later."

"I'm sure she told you _you_ weren't welcome," the ambassador lashed out at JJ without answering her daughter. But before JJ could reply, she had turned back to Emily. "You're trying to make a fool of me. You must be. Parading her around like that. You hardly left her side all night, you kissed her in front of _everyone_—!"

Emily was trying to be reasonable but it was difficult. "Mother, that's going to happen sometimes," she said plainly. "One of your friends will recognise me in the street or at a restaurant with a woman and it may or may not filter back to you. I can't help that. I can't always be afraid of being caught out like a stupid teenager with a secret boyfriend—"

"Your boyfriends were never secret," Elizabeth hissed. "You've always been an embarrassment to me. You do it on purpose. And I've done so much for you. I've given you the best of everything. Why do you insist on hurting me?"

"I'm sorry if I embarrass you, mother," Emily sighed. She sounded honest and that was upsetting to JJ. If Emily wanted to apologise for not forewarning her mother that she was bringing a woman, that was one thing, but JJ sensed it was more than that she was apologising for now. It was something she didn't owe anyone an apology for. "When I was a kid, I meant to upset you. I admit it. I wanted your attention. And, besides that, I was so afraid of embarrassing you by accident that I thought if I did it on purpose at least I'd have no reason to expect you to act like you loved me… Now I'm tired of playing games with you. I just want to live my life without always looking over my shoulder, thinking of who my see me, how I might embarrass you next just by being me."

"You're a clever woman, Miss Jareau. What are you doing here?" Elizabeth asked. Her tone had softened, ever so slightly, but she refused to acknowledge her daughter. "Any one of the people in this room could have—and still might—send word of your relationship with my daughter back to your unit chief. Why would you risk tarnishing your reputation at the bureau for her?"

JJ stared at the ambassador and desperately tried to understand her. If anyone could understand the sacrifices people made for those they loved, it should be a mother; it should be _Emily's _mother. Yet the ambassador was lost. It was fear that motivated her actions. The same fear that schoolchildren feel: _What if I do something different and the others don't like me anymore? _It was pitiful, but it was also forgivable.

"You're a clever woman yourself, ambassador," JJ answered, slipping an arm pointedly around Emily's waist. "I'm sure you understand. And I'm sure you want your daughter to be happy as much as I do, even if you wish she could be happy in a more conventional way." She flashed Emily an apologetic look as if unsure whether or not that was an offensive thing to say. "I'm here because I never want Emily to feel embarrassed or ashamed about loving a woman, and because tonight—even if _only_ for tonight—I was honoured to be that woman."

With only a slight hesitation, JJ turned her face into Emily's cheek and laid a soft kiss there, in spite of her mother, and Emily caught her eye with a loving smile as she pulled away.

"Mother, I'm not expecting you to be okay right away," she admitted. "The truth is, I should have done this a long time ago. If I had, maybe things would be better by now. Still, I hope you'll try. I'll try to be more considerate as well but I can't do it by hiding who I am. I'm sorry."

"You picked a good woman for the job," the ambassador finally conceded, as if this were the best compliment she could muster. "There was talk, but much of it was good. Jennifer certainly made an impression… Well, she's a good, wholesome girl. Fit, educated, well mannered. I suppose if you had to bring a woman…" Elizabeth let out a brief sigh and then pressed her hands together as if that were all she'd meant to say. "Well, goodnight."

"Goodnight, mother," Emily replied, and although the two women didn't so much as shake hands as they parted, the air was clearer between them now, and JJ could feel the tension that had been coiling within her all night begin to unwind.

Still, she was glad when the tall oak doors were closed behind them and she could be herself again.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

JJ had absolutely no doubt that if she didn't kiss Emily again before the end of the night, the kiss at the ball would fade into irrelevancy. Emily would be only too happy to regard it as just another episode in their shared pretence, and they would go back to work on Monday with everything as it always had been. They would be colleagues, friends, and nothing more. JJ had always loved her easy relationship with Emily, so why did going back to that that suddenly seem like such a tragedy?

It wasn't the ball that had done it. It wasn't the beautiful dresses or the high ceilings, the chandeliers, fine dining, dancing, or any of that. It wasn't being shown off like a prize—_my darling Jennifer, my effervescent girlfriend, the light of my life, my true love_—but it was there in the way she spoke those words. It was in the way Emily's hand hovered at the small of her back. It was in the quirk of her lips as she met JJ's eye with a private joke. It was in that goddamn incredible kiss she couldn't seem to get out of her head.

"Would you like to come up? It's only eleven," JJ found herself asking as they pulled up in front of her apartment building, and this time it was she who playfully opened Emily's door for her.

A hesitant smile spread across the older woman's lips as she considered and then took the hand that was offered to her. JJ pulled her to her feet but didn't immediately step back, leaving them chest to chest and hand in hand for a moment longer than necessary. Their eyes met and JJ's were vibrant and teasing—or was that the wrong word? The look they exchanged was intimate, at least, in some as yet indefinable way.

When Emily allowed her eyes to fall to JJ's lips, JJ took the opportunity to withdraw with a satisfied smile, and Emily cleared her throat. Turning her head to mask the colour rising in her cheeks, she sighed, "I've got my go bag in the back seat. You don't mind if I change into something more comfortable?"

"I insist on it," JJ answered brightly. "You'll give my poor sofa a mid-life crisis if you sit down all glam like that."

With an honest smile, she closed the car door and led Emily upstairs.

Ten minutes later, when Emily emerged from the bathroom, she was wearing a pair of jeans and a fresh blouse and she'd released her curls from the confines of her bun. Yet where JJ's curls had loosened throughout the evening, slipping back toward their natural state of straightness, Emily's had grown wilder. With her make up and jewellery still as it had been for the ball, she looked like a different person again compared to her appearance earlier in the evening or yesterday at work. Almost self-consciously, Emily combed her fingers through her thick, dark hair and smiled, shaking her head as JJ took her in.

"Now _you're_ over-dressed," she stated, gesturing to the aquamarine dress that had garnered JJ so much favourable attention that evening.

"I can remedy that if you get us a couple of drinks?" JJ suggested and then she disappeared into her room, emerging after some consideration in a pair of jeans, following Emily's lead, and a loose t-shirt she would probably wear to bed afterwards.

When she entered the kitchen she found Emily searching her cupboards, evidently still in search of glasses. Her back was turned to JJ and so, feeling slightly mischievous, the blonde retrieved the glasses herself before silently slipping her arms around Emily's waist from behind.

Emily didn't jump. Instead, she let out a soft, rumbling chuckle, which JJ felt as a ripple of abdominal muscles beneath her fingertips.

"I would've found them," she insisted softly.

"I'm sure," JJ laughed. Then she pressed her lips lightly against Emily's shoulder before drawing back and setting the glasses on the counter. "I assumed you'd want wine, but have whatever you like."

"Wine is generally a fair assumption with me," Emily replied. "And you?"

"The same."

JJ left Emily to pour and then slipped into the living room to fiddle with the radio.

_Something sexy_, she thought, _But not one of those late night show whose deep-voiced hosts feel the need to remind you ten times a minute that they only play love songs..._

She stopped fiddling and sheepishly reverted to her default station as Emily returned. She was grateful to have a glass of wine in her hand again as they sat.

_Do you really know what you're doing, Jayj...? _She took a sip and then made a hasty evaluation of her own mental competency. Well, she'd held her own against the ambassador, hadn't she? There couldn't be too much wrong with her.

"Do you think your mother will ever invite you to another ball?" JJ asked. She tried to sound casual, as if it were a simple question that had nothing to do with her and she hadn't crossed all kinds of lines by inviting Emily upstairs so late.

Emily shrugged. "She always does," she answered reassuringly. " Whether I want her to or not… My mother taught me how best to act around people like her. She knows I'm well liked in her circle—a bit of a pet—and she knows that both of us can use each other's influence… I'm an acceptable risk to her."

"Even after tonight?" JJ asked and Emily gave her a wry smile.

"JJ, this is the woman who walked in on me having sex on her kitchen table when I was seventeen years old," she answered. "If the ambassador were going to disown me for anything short of a capital crime, she would have done it a long time ago. No, I expect you'll get a written invitation to her next big event..."

"Do you think so?" JJ took another sip of her wine and leaned her shoulder into Emily's, surprised. "You know, I'll come if you want? If she asks."

"JJ, you don't have to pretend to be my girlfriend forever," Emily answered without meeting her eye. "This was— I mean, it was just for tonight. To make a point. Obviously."

"I know I don't have to." JJ replied. Her voice came out more sharply than she intended but at least it made Emily look at her. "Em, do you think I even _would_ come, if you told me I _had to_?"

"What? No, I didn't mean—"

"So why do you think I'm offering out of obligation?" Before she could steel herself against the idea, JJ took Emily's hand firmly and wove their fingers together. "Forget your mother for a minute, okay? Can I not just want to see you again because I had a good time tonight—with you?"

Emily stared down at their joined hands and bit her lip to stem a smile she wasn't yet sure was warranted. "I suppose it's not impossible..." she acquiesced.

With a sigh, JJ leaned in to press a soft kiss against Emily's neck, nudging the dark curls back with her nose as she did. The radio had decided to cooperate, she realised belatedly. The music was perfect for— well, for whatever they were doing now...

"Good," JJ answered. "Because I had a really... good... time... tonight..." Each word, she punctured with a light kiss leading up Emily's neck, across her jaw, toward her mouth. But as she opened her mouth to speak again, Emily cut her short with a searing kiss on her lips.

"Even with everybody watching us?" She asked, pulling back with a coy smile and bright, bright eyes.

"I don't know if you've noticed, Em," JJ replied with a laugh. "But there's nobody watching us _now_…"

**Fin**


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